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Central Coast's Arnold putting ACL before contract

Central Coast Mariners head coach Graham Arnold says he will not get caught up in contract discussions whilst his side is still in the Asian Champions League.

The Mariners kept their chances of progressing to the knockout phase alive with a 5-1 home win over Tianjin Teda on Tuesday night and Arnold says he will not be dragged into speculation regarding links with Sydney FC while the players are still thinking about their job on the pitch.

"100 percent, I owe that to the players," Arnold said when asked if he would oversee the Mariners in their final group stage match against Nagoya Grampus.

"I'm flattered with the interest from Sydney but I don't want to take the focus off the players."